Sun., 4/12 Alex Vratsanos

[magus]

THEME:   first words of random phrases are second words of John Grisham titles      
         
GOOD ONES:          
Capital of Cypress?    SOFT C         
Close to closed   AJAR         
Sheep's clothing?   WOOL         
         
BTW:         
Unbelievable   FISHY [too much of a stretch: fishy = hard to believe]         
         
Slanted column   OP ED [not if it's a good one: position on a topic is not necessarily "slanted," which is a pejorative]   

ULEE is becoming a bee in my bonnet: saw it again recently and it, like the entry, is rather tedious      
         
         
RATING:    (given 21 x 21)      
Three grins = Loved it; Two grins = Enjoyed it; One grin = A bit bland for my taste; One teardrop = Not much fun         

[Thomps2525]

Mister magus, you're tired of seeing ULEE in crosswords? Well, guess what? ULEE is also in Merl Reagle's Sunday crossword today. *Sigh*

Reagle's puzzle also includes four foreign words (ESTE, ETRE, PESO, STRASSE), another set of Roman numerals, and far too many overused words (AGE, EDEN, EEL, ELI, ELO, ERIE, OGLE, ORE, RYE, SPA). But it also has a clever clue: "Core ingredients" for APPLESEEDS.

The theme: "Funny You Should Ask." Among the answers:

"____ seeing in Indiana?" HOOSIERDADDY
"____ with this duck costume?" WADDLEIDO
"____ to meet the founder of Rolling Stone magazine?" WENNERWEGOING
"____ despite your objections, Monsieur?" MAISOUIPROCEED
"____, a hex or a spell?" WITCHESWORSE
"____ find this country on a map?" KENYAHELPME
"____ at Western Union?" WIREWESTOPPING